Recently I have had traffic to my blog from “past Christians, now atheists”. That boggles my mind. How do you have the truth, doubt it and then walk away. It stands to reason, they never understood the truth? They were more about self?
How do they turn and walk away?
Have you ever thought about what it was like when satan* decided to leave Heaven? He made a conscious choice to leave all he knew about God and Heaven. First, he had the free will to make the choice. Second, God did not stop him. Third, he stuck with it and never went back. God was not a puppet master. He did not pull the strings and force satan* to walk His walk. He ALLOWED it all to happen.
So these “former Christians turned atheists” came across my blog and they want me to understand and help me to leave my faith. They have proved to themselves they were raised wrong, and that all they believed is a myth. They want to “UNconvert the converted … UNsave the saved”. Wow.
So how could they think that way? Well, how could satan*? That is pretty heavy thinking on any scale. That you could KNOW God, BEEN in Heaven and just walk away, basically denying God’s love and power. So satan* thought to take it all, succeed on his own, and did his own thing. Daily, here on earth, people do the same thing without a second thought.
A young man I know is going through a very tough time. His fiance CHOSE to leave him, leave the church, leave the walk they had professed. The young man is understandably hurt and confused. He thought the person he loved was a Christian walking the walk she talked. Now it all seems to have been a lie. This is not a new phenom, I have seen it throughout the years; people pretending to be a certain way in order to “get what they want”. This young woman got the ‘coveted ring’, only to decide it was not enough and walked away. He is very fortunate, although he will not realize this for sometime.
(Have you ever considered how God felt when His creation walked out of Heaven willingly?)
I have friends who have children they raised to love the Lord who simply chose to walk away. I know of couples where one chose to leave their vows before God, the church life they shared, the children they had. All of these made a choice and must live with the consequences. Sadly, they leave a path of grief in their wake.
Can you imagine how God grieved over satan*? Look at the wake of grief he brought on this earth by his choice. Was God to blame because He did not stop satan*? Why did He not stop Eve? It had to grieve Him. Was it God’s fault because He did not stop satan* in his temptation of Eve? No. It was satan* who made the choice. It was Eve and Adam who made choices. It was their decision, just as your decisions are yours. God is NOT a puppet master.
The day comes when we as parents allow our children to make their own decisions. The day comes when as adults they are out of your control and you are not to blame for their choices. You can be a great parent but, one day they will make their own decisions. Just as God is a perfect Heavenly Father. But, daily we make choices that hurts and grieves Him because we can. We have free will.
For those that have been hurt by a loved one who walks away … a child, a friend, a spouse …. you cannot and should not blame yourself. Sometimes you can do all the right things and the person will still make the wrong choice.
Each day in our lives we come to the point where we make a consciouschoice…. FOR or AGAINST God. Free will.
Not so free … it cost a lot. Jesus died on the cross for what satan’s* free will cost. Many broken hearts and lives have paid a heavy price for someone else to have free will.
Lights in the Storm 